Thief viablie?

December 24th, 2011, 13:32

I was discussing Morrowind with a friend a few days ago and we've always had our fav. builds in any RPG: I am the diplomatic char or silent thief he's the big tank/berserker/"Me big me smash your skull" type. So the argument came when we discussed if one can very well play the game as a thief, ignoring even lockpicking for the alteration skill and only using marksman for fighting purposes. Also it would be harder to play since raising sneak is a little difficult (without blocking yourself in a corner and sneaking ofc).

So the question would be this: is it possible to play a thief, with alteration and illusion as minor skills and only with marksman? I know that some parts in the game are combat oriented so is marksman and a few support spells enough to make it? Also this is a matter of playing the expansions too, not just the main game. What other skills might be useful besides the typical ones like light armor and the ones already mentioned?

It would be hard relying mostly on Marksman, at least at first, and you'd have to be really careful about ammunition, but I think it's quite possible to do it. You'd have to use a lot of hit-and-run tactics, possibly get Paralyze-happy when things go badly, and generally be prepared to work for it. Sneak takes ages to get up to a really useful level, but once you're there you should be alright.

You should be able to do a marksmanship only char easily, for minor skills Illusion is always useful, I wouldn't put points into alteration though, Conjuration and/or enchanting would be best back-ups in my opinion.

Enchanting can pretty much re-place any magic school if you find the right item.

He is right about enchanting. The game can be outright broken with enchanting. A few years back I did a build and found a nice money exploit to build a ring that could summon multiple undead at once (solves the magic item recharge time) and a sword that did ridiculous fire damage for tens of seconds. It just broke the game pure and simple. I could go anywhere and kill anything with complete ease.

This time around I'm limiting myself to quest item rewards and stuff I can enchant myself. Its much more enjoyable and I'm the Arch Mage for the Mages Guild as well as the Magistar (Arch Mage) for House Telvanni. I just started the main quest. Its been a very enjoyable ride and the Morrowind Overhaul mod is fantastic.

I was going to suggest some Telvanni mods, but since you're playing a Thief I highly doubt you're going to join that great house. Anyway, should you decide to replay the game with a magic-oriented character (which is the most satisfying way of playing Morrowind, anyway) you'll want to add:

Uvirith's Legacy - this kicks in after you build the Tel Uvirith's stronghold. Aside from a massive interior overhaul, it adds TONS of quests which often allow you to make choices. Most of them are also very interesting and well made (for instance, in one particular quest you have to act as a judge in a sort of trial).

Rise of House Telvanni - the second must-have Telvanni mods. Adds around 20 post-Archamagister quests strongly focused on choices and consequences.

Aside from these, I'd also suggest:

Havish - A *great* Daggerfall-inspired landmass with lots of quests. The thieves guild ones, in particular, are some of the best thief-oriented quests I've played in pretty much any RPG. Since you're playing a thief char, this is obviously
highly recommended.

LGNPC series - Aside from adding depth to characters which previously had none, these plugins also add mostly well-made quests which often allow you to make choices with appropriate consequences (Pax Redoran in particular is nothing short of amazing, but you'll have to join house Redoran to play most of the content, and you're unlikely to be able to do that with a thief character)

Tamriel Rebuilt - tons of quests, generally much more complex than vanilla ones (not that this is saying much, considering that 90% of vanilla quests are fetch tasks, but still) and occasionally there are multiple ways to complete them.

Juniper's Twin Lamps and Vivec's Fate - the former is suggested if you're going to play an abolitionist, while the latter requires you to complete the main quest. Both have a strong focus on choices and consequences.

Originally Posted by bloodlover
What great house would be best to join for a Nightblade class in terms of reward and compatibility?

House Hlaalu. Unfortunately, while Telvannis got all those awesome plugins and Redorans have LGNPX Pax Redoran, there are almost no good mods for Hlaalus - the equivalent for Rise of House Telvanni would be Grandmaster of Hlaalu, but the latter has neither the depth nor the scope of the former.

Originally Posted by bloodlover
I just reinstalled Morrowind because of the Morrowind Overhaul final release I don't really plan to add any other mods since they might interfere with this one.

Why? Morrowind Overhaul (at least the current release, which encompasses only graphical mods) doesn't have much-needed gameplay improvement mods, nor it adds quest mods. So unless you want to play a graphically enhanced vanilla Morrowind, but with the same balance/gameplay problems and boring quests, you're bound to add some more plugins.

Also, it's highly unlikely that either gameplay or quests plugins will conflict with Morrowind Overhaul's current release, since, as I've already said above, the latter is a collection of graphical mods.

Originally Posted by cacaro
Also, it's highly unlikely that either gameplay or quests plugins will conflict with Morrowind Overhaul's current release, since, as I've already said above, the latter is a collection of graphical mods.

Yeah, though there may be few exceptions.
Some of the mods which modify landscape can potentially visually conflict with grass mods, because grass generation in the overhaul is based on vanilla.
Also, the optional Dagoth Ur Voice Addon probably conflicts with Darknutīs Greater Dwemer Ruins because that mod has the addon already integrated.